Lynch stops by, announces run for Kerry’s seat

Friday

Feb 1, 2013 at 6:00 AM

By John J. Monahan TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Boston, Thursday stepped into the race to serve out U.S. Sen. John Kerry’s term, casting himself, at a stop at a Shrewsbury Street diner, as the candidate who best understands working people.

Mr. Lynch said he is the candidate who will be willing to buck the Washington establishment, which he said is supporting his primary opponent, U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, D-Malden. He said his years as an ironworker and labor leader separate him from other candidates in the race. He said his life experiences will allow him to fill “this gap between the United States Senate and what is going on here on Shrewsbury Street in Worcester.”

“He does have the support of the establishment. He’s got a lot of money. But I don’t intend to purchase this election,” Mr. Lynch said, referring to Mr. Markey, who announced his candidacy last month and has the support of Mr. Kerry, Victoria Kennedy and key Democratic organizations as well as more than $3 million in campaign funds. Mr. Lynch ended 2012 with $740,000 in his campaign fund.

Mr. Lynch said he strapped on work boots for 18 years as an ironworker, grew up in a public housing project and has stood in unemployment lines, asserting that he understands the challenges of working families in Central Massachusetts. “I have that body of experience that I can relate to what they are going through,” Mr. Lynch said.

He said Mr. Markey “has been in Congress since I was in ninth grade” and has developed a D.C. view of the world. “There is a certain insulation that you have from reality when you spend too much time in Washington,” Mr. Lynch said. He acknowledged he has been in Congress now for 12 years himself. Mr. Markey has been in Congress since 1976.

Mr. Lynch was flanked by two key local supporters, state Rep. John J. Binienda, D-Worcester, and state Rep. John P. Fresolo, D-Worcester, as he fielded questions outside the Parkway Diner from reporters who were following him on his first full day of campaigning. Mr. Lynch announced his candidacy for the April 30 primary at campaign stops in Springfield and Worcester before heading to an afternoon rally at the union hall of Iron Workers Local 7 in his home district in South Boston.

Mr. Lynch, who describes himself as pro-life and voted against President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, acknowledged he is not well-known around the state, but said he plans to work 24-7 over the next 90 days to change that.

He also commented on his ability to take on Republican Scott P. Brown, who lost his bid for re-election to Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, if Mr. Brown gets into the race. He said he has credibility with working people Mr. Brown may lack.

“I know Sen. Brown’s success was with the pickup truck and coat and all that,” Mr. Lynch said. “I had a pickup truck, too. Mine was a work truck. I didn’t drive from my law office to my house — I actually had tools in the back and a welding machine in the back, and I drove from my house to the work site,” Mr. Lynch said.

“If we are fighting for the regular people — the working people — I think my credentials stack up against his very, very well,” Mr. Lynch said.

Mr. Binienda said he has supported Mr. Lynch in all his previous elections and believes Central Massachusetts voters will come out to vote for him, given his working class credentials. Mr. Markey is less known in the Worcester area, he said.

“Ed Markey’s been there for 36 years, and I have never met him,” Mr. Binienda said, adding that Mr. Markey “has never reached out” to him as the senior member of the Legislature from Central Massachusetts.

Mr. Fresolo said that while Mr. Lynch doesn’t fit in with many of the progressive Democrats who have dominated recent elections, he has a lot in common with voters in his urban district.

“He’s not a carbon copy of the progressive Democrats who have been successful recently, but to me he fits the mold of the working class, blue collar person that I represent,” Mr. Fresolo said. “They are the working class and the working poor. In my opinion I couldn’t have a better advocate for the people I represent and the people of Worcester than Stephen Lynch in the U.S. Senate.”

Kevin McKinnon, business agent for the Local 7 Iron Workers union, stopped by the diner with some other ironworkers to greet Mr. Lynch. They chatted in a booth about construction projects under way in the city. Mr. McKinnon said the building tradespeople will largely back Mr. Lynch, giving him a strong base in the primary.

“Lynch stands for the common man, the middle-of-the-road guy, and he has always been like that,” said Mr. McKinnon, who worked with Mr. Lynch when they were both ironworker apprentices and for many years afterward on buildings, including the Federal Reserve Building and International Place in Boston.